chicks dying, stretching out neck and opening mouth NEED HELP ASAP!!!!

[sweeterdeeter42]

I have lost three chicks in a few hours, and the fourth is stretching its neck out and opening its mouth wide and then closing its mouth and drawing its neck back in without ceasing. What is wrong with them!?!?!? I have two that arent showing any signs of anything yet and were in the same brooder.

 

[bburn]

Don't know but I'll give you a bump, maybe someone that knows will answer!

 

[mcgee0919]

I know a man that said his peacocks get a certain worm that's from an earthworm and they do exactly what you are describing. There is only a couple of wormers that will kill it though. Are your chicks on the dirt? If not, i dont know how they would get it....if they are, check into it. He called it a Gait worm...and the wormer for it, I can't remember, but maybe google it. Good luck!

 

[sweeterdeeter42]

I should probably say that they are only a week old. No, they are not on dirt, they have been in my brooder since last weekend when I bought them right after they hatched.

 

[ralleia]

Temperature? Are there zones of different temperatures available (cooler, warmer)? Have you successfully brooded in that setup before?

 

[SuziQ991]

It might help to give more info. What are you feeding them? What is the bedding? At what temp is the brooder? At one week they should be at 85 degrees I believe. They need to have room to get away from the heat if they need to. Are they all huddled together?

 

[Equine_Angel]

I have had the same problem and lost 7 chicks in one week. Make sure there is no draft in the area of your chicks. Last year I did not loose one chick as the brooder was located in our garage that had a heater. This year we put the brooder and chicks in the barn and we tried to blanket off as much of the draft areas that we could. They can get sick quite quickly from a draft.

 

[sweeterdeeter42]

ADDITIONAL INFO: This is the 6th batch of chicks I have raised in the exact same conditions and did not lose any out of most of the batches. Rubbermaid brooder with the heat lamp on one end with wood shavings. And at one week they are at 90 degrees....... Starts out at 95 and goes down 5 degrees a week.

Pretty horrifying, dumped out the shavings and the dead chicks outside and one started peeping.....

Way too far gone to do anything about.


ETA: they are in my basement.

 

[ChickenPox]

I had several dying and I didn't know why. Out of desperation, I treated for cocci, even though I hadn't seen bloody poop. After I started the Sulmet in the water, the oldest chick had massive amounts of blood show up in it's stool! I only lost 2 more after that......and that was when I quit treatment (had to start again, obviously!) Just a thought!

 

[kasey08]

Sounds like choking? Look into its mouth. Ive had one do that before.